Athletic activity is important to maintaining a healthy lifestyle and is a source of entertainment for many people. Some individuals prefer to engage in team athletic activities such as, for example, soccer or basketball, while other individuals prefer to engage in individual athletic activities such as, for example, running or skiing. Regardless of whether the activity is a team or individual activity, it is common for individuals to participate in both competitive sessions, such as a soccer match or a running race, and more informal training sessions such as conducting soccer drills or running interval sprints.
Technology has resulted in the development of fitness monitoring devices that are capable of recording information about an individual's performance during an athletic activity using sensors, and in some cases providing feedback about the individual's performance. Some portable fitness monitoring devices employ sensors attached to the individual's body, while other portable fitness monitoring devices rely on sensors attached to a piece of athletic equipment. Such sensors may be capable of measuring various physical and/or physiological parameters associated with the individual's physical activity.
Many existing fitness monitoring devices are not portable and thus are not suitable for monitoring in many real world competitive or training sessions. Even those that are portable are often too heavy or lack sufficient battery and/or processing power to be used for extended periods under rigorous competitive or training conditions. In addition, while some existing fitness monitoring devices are capable of making relatively simple performance determinations such as an individual's current heart rate or total step count for an activity, more advanced determinations are often not possible or suffer from accuracy issues. Finally, the performance feedback provided by existing devices to individuals often fails to provide these individuals with quick, accurate, insightful information that would enable them to easily compare past performances, develop strategies for improving future performances, visualize performances, or select new training regimens or athletic equipment.